Providing navigation directions in view of device orientation relative to user

• US 9,542,844 B2
• Filed: 02/11/2014
• Issued: 01/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Jutte, Kyle, Steinmetz, William Henry, Inoue, Riku
• Primary Examiner(s): Zimmerman, Brian
• Assistant Examiner(s): MCCORMACK, THOMAS S
• Application Number:
  US14/178,079
• Publication Number:
  US 20150228191A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,064 Days
• Field of Search: 340/980, 340/995.1, 340/995.27, 701/455, 345/7, 345/8
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3655 Timing of guidance instructions
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0968 Systems involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle

Abstract

To provide effective navigation directions to a user in an automotive environment, a system determines information related to navigating the user to a destination, determines whether a screen of the portable device currently is in a line-of-sight with the user and generates a navigation instruction based on the determined information. Generating the navigation instruction includes selecting a level of detail of visual information for the navigation instruction in view of whether the screen is in the line-of-sight with the user.

Claims

1. A method in a portable device for providing effective navigation directions to a user in an automotive environment, the method comprising:

determining, by one or more processors, information related to navigating the user to a destination;

determining, by the one or more processors, whether a screen of the portable device currently is likely in a line-of-sight with the user; and

generating, by the one or more processors, a navigation instruction based on the determined information, including selecting (i) a level of detail of visual information for the navigation instruction, and (ii) a level of detail of auditory information for the navigation instruction, in view of whether the screen is likely in the line-of-sight with the user, wherein

selecting the level of detail of visual information includes selecting the level of detail of visual information from among at least three different levels, the three different levels including a first level that includes some but not all visual information available for the navigation instruction and a second level that includes all of the visual information available for the navigation instruction, and

selecting the level of detail of auditory information includes (i) selecting a higher level of detail of auditory information when the screen is likely not in the line-of-sight of the user, and (ii) selecting a lower level of detail of auditory information when the screen is likely in the line-of-sight of the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the navigation instruction includes selecting the level of detail of visual information further in view of whether the screen is currently turned on.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the navigation instruction includes selecting the level of detail of visual information further in view of whether the user turned off the screen or the screen turned off in response to a timeout event.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a level of ambient noise;

wherein selecting the level of detail of auditory information for the navigation instruction is further in view of a level of ambient noise.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein selecting the level of detail of auditory information is in view of the selected level of detail of visual information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the screen is likely in the line-of-sight with the user includes determining an orientation of the portable device relative to ground.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the screen is likely in the line-of-sight with the user includes determining whether the portable device is located in a cupholder inside a vehicle using at least one of a camera or a proximity sensor.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the information related to navigating the user to the destination includes identifying an upcoming maneuver along a navigation route to the destination, wherein the navigation instructions describes the maneuver.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the information related to navigating the user to the destination includes identifying an alternate route to the destination.

10. A portable device comprising:

one or more sensors configured to generate a signal indicative of a current orientation of the portable device,

a visual interface;

an audio interface; and

a navigation component coupled to the one or more sensors, the visual interface, and the audio interface, the navigation component configured to;

determine whether the visual interface is likely in view of a user of the portable device based on the current orientation of the portable device to generate a line-of-sight indication, and

generate a navigation instruction for navigating the user to a certain destination, at least in part by selecting a level of detail of visual information and a level of detail of auditory information for the navigation instruction, to be provided respectively via the visual interface and the audio interface, based on the line-of-sight indication, wherein

selecting the level of detail of visual information includes selecting the level of detail of visual information from among at least three different levels, the three different levels including a first level that includes some but not all visual information available for the navigation instruction and a second level that includes all of the visual information available for the navigation instruction, and

selecting the level of detail of auditory information includes (i) selecting a higher level of detail of auditory information when the line-of-sight indication indicates the visual interface is likely not in the view of the user, and (ii) selecting a lower level of detail of auditory information when the line-of-sight indication indicates the visual interface is likely in the view of the user.

11. The portable device of claim 10, further comprising:

a microphone configured to generate a signal indicative of a level of ambient noise,

wherein the navigation component is configured to select the level of detail of the visual information and the level of detail of the auditory information further based on the level of ambient noise.

12. The portable device of claim 10, further comprising:

at least one of (i) a proximity sensor and (ii) a camera,

wherein the navigation component is configured to generate the line-of-sight indication using the at least one of the proximity sensor and the camera.

13. The portable device of claim 10, further comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium;

wherein the navigation component includes a plurality of instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable on the one or more processors.

14. The portable device of claim 13, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium stores an indication of whether the user turned off the visual interface, wherein the navigation component is configured to select the level of detail of the visual information and the level of detail of the auditory information further based on whether the user turned off the visual interface.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon instructions that implement a navigation module which, when executed on one or more processors, is configured to:

automatically determine whether a visual interface of a portable device is likely in a line-of-sight with a user of the portable device;

generate a navigation instruction for navigating the user to a certain destination, at least in part by selecting (i) a level of detail of visual information related to the navigation instruction, and (ii) a level of detail of auditory information related to the navigation instruction, based at least in part on whether the visual interface is likely in the line-of-sight with the user, wherein

selecting the level of detail of visual information includes selecting the level of detail of visual information from among at least three different levels, the three different levels including a first level that includes some but not all visual information available for the navigation instruction and a second level that includes all of the visual information available for the navigation instruction, and

selecting the level of detail of auditory information includes (i) selecting a higher level of detail of auditory information when the visual interface is likely not in the line-of-sight of the user, and (ii) selecting a lower level of detail of auditory information when the visual interface is likely in the line-of-sight of the user; and

when the selected level of detail of visual information is greater than zero, cause the visual information to be provided via the visual interface of the portable device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the navigation module is further configured to:

determine whether the visual interface is currently active; and

select the level of detail of visual information related to the navigation instruction in view of whether the visual interface is currently active.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the navigation module is further configured to:

in response to determining that the visual interface is currently inactive, determine whether the visual interface was deactivated in response to a command from the user or upon automatically without the command from the user; and

select the level of detail of visual information related to the navigation instruction further in view of whether the visual interface was deactivated in response to the command from the user.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the navigation module is further configured to:

cause the auditory information to be provided via an audio interface of the portable device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the navigation module is further configured to:

determine a level of ambient noise; and

select the level of detail of auditory information related to the navigation instruction further in view of the current level of ambient noise.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein to determine whether the screen of the portable device is likely in the line-of-sight with the user, the navigation module is configured to determine an orientation of the portable device in a three-dimensional space.